Ozone a Little Is Good,

Ozone

a Little is good, Too Much May Cause Death-

The purpose of this paper is to examine and explore the subject of the Ozone layer. Further to not only understand the facts but to research and give consideration to the implications of predictive future developments in relation to the Ozone layer's condition.

Scientists as well as grassroots and Greenpeace groups all issued a warning in the 1970's that has culminated in just what was predicted as is demonstrated by a November 17th 2004 Newsday report that reveals that the rise of deaths "among urban dwellers immediately following a peak in ground-level ozone, according to researchers who analyzed pollution in 95 cities nationwide."

The report stated that there was a link between death and pollution and is a subject that has recently come to their attention due to an increase in mortality spurring studies. A large study, as a matter of fact, one of the largest ever performed to date was "funded by the Environmental Protection Agency and reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association"2, according to Newsday.

According to reports when first detected there were many industries in the United States that resisted banning CFCs and it took several years for scientists to produce proof of the detrimental effect upon the Ozone layer by the emissions of the CFCs. In 1978 the United States banned the use of CFCs that were used as propellants. Aerosols were also used in "aerosol sprays and foam blowing agents as well as solvents.

I. "Good Up High - Bad Near-by: According to Michelle Bell, professor for Environmental Health, when one speaks of ozone the best saying in reference to the nearness it "good up high but bad nearby."

Performing examinations in the variations "day-today" levels of the ozone layer and the total of 95 deaths throughout the nation Bell discovered that 40% of the entire population that dies lives in these 95 cities. That is more than a coincidence. According to Bell, "The higher the ozone level, the more people tended to die of virtually any cause. The strongest associations were in heart and respiratory diseases."

Bell stated that there are two ways that ozone affects the health of human beings. First in the short-range health effects and secondly in those health effects that are long-range. New York City contained the worst levels of ozone, according to the reports "even worse than Los Angeles, a city whose air on bad days is so thick it obscures the vast Santa Monica mountain range." Studies concerning the health effects of Ozone are still new and the effects are just now beginning to be seen in terms of what can be studied and calculated through data that is the death of humans attributed to excess Ozone leakage and holes in the protection layer.

In a 1996 report from the Inter-Press Service English News Wire entitled "Environment: Crisis Over Damage to Ozone Layer" It was said that Chile and Argentina are in graver danger than are any other countries in terms of the effects of the Ozone depletion. Stated was that:

"Today it is possible to find people whose skin has been burnt by the sun even at the extreme northern tip of Chile where inhabitants are supposedly better equipped biologically to tolerate solar radiation ... " and that "Paradoxically, the heavy smog over Santiago protects its inhabitants form the ultraviolet rays." (Cabrera 1996)

II. The Composition of the Ozone Layer:

The Ozone layer's function is a protective layer that serves to shield the Earth and its inhabitants from the deadly effects of ultraviolet heat and to hold the good light in which causes the earth to be inhabitable in terms of the surface earth temperatures. Without the interaction between the sun, earth and the ozone the earth may be as the surface of Venus which is around 900 degree C. A day. Just as likely, the earth could be far too cold to inhabit without the embryonic type shield that the ozone layer provides the earth. There are eleven gases that are more abundant in the Earth's lower atmosphere measure by volume, the most important of those being named as that of carbon dioxide, methane,

Table of Atmospheric Gases and Chemical Formulas

Gas Name

Chemical Formula

Percent Volume

Nitrogen

N2

78.08%

Oxygen

O2

20.95%

*Water

H2O

0 to 4%

Argon

Ar

0.93%

*Carbon Dioxide

CO2

0.04%

Neon

Ne

0.00%

Helium

He

0.00%

*Methane

0.00%

Hydrogen

H2

0.00%

*Nitrous Oxide

N2O

0.00%

*Ozone

O3

0.00%

* variable gases

Table 1.0 *variable gases nitrous oxide and ozone, nitrogen, oxygen, and water vapor. These gases are vital in relation to the biospheric health of the Earth. The nitrogen and oxygen are the two main gases that between them compose around 99% of the atmosphere which is dry. Nitrogen is natural in form of that which is injected into the atmosphere by lightning and produces anitrogen based antibacterial agent into the environment

Oxygen, through process of photosynthesis and respiration is exchanged between the earth and the atmosphere. Water vapor is the next largest gas by volume in the atmosphere and is known for redistribution of heat energy on behalf of the Earth through a "latent heat energy exchange." Precipitation is the effect of condensation of water that falls back to earth for plants and animals. However, this does contribute to the greenhouse effect on Earth.

Next, methane gas has become 140% more concentrated in the atmosphere than since 1750. The methane contributors are known to be as follows

1. Rice cultivation

2. Domestic Grazing Animals

3. Termites

4. Landfills

5. Coal Mining

6. Oil and Gas Extraction

Nitrous oxide is increasing between 0.2 to 0.3% each year. Nitrous oxide has the effect of artificial fertilization within the ecological systems of earth and has been known to kill out entire forest areas. Nitrous oxide comes from the following sources

1. Land-Use Conversion

2. Fossil Fuel Combustion,

3. Biomass Burning

4. Soil Fertilization

Other Facts about Ozone and Everyday Considerations:

Not only humans are feeling the influx of Ozone as it is pushed out of place by emission from carbon dioxide and methane gases that rise from earth into the atmosphere and the reactions of the stratosphere to that invasion of chemicals as studies reveal that the Ozone is hard on tires as well. In a report entitled "Ozone Attack and Tire Sidewall Protection (Tech Service) September 1, 2004 stated is that:

"Natural and synthetic elastomers containing active ethylenic unsaturation are rapidly degraded by ozone when they a re under stress," demonstrated by surface cracks running perpendicular to the cracks brought on by stressing of the tire. According to Criegee and Schroeder, the mechanism of an ozone attack is in that Ozone reacts with the active ethylenic unsaturation to form a tioxolane structure which decomposes to Zwitterion and carbonyl compound which can recombine to a normal ozonide, the Zwitterion can dimerize to form either diperoxide or to yield a higher peroxide.

III. The Ozone Riddle:

Professor Paul Crutzen's most famous achievement in science is that of the riddle he solved in relation to the ozone hole. Scientists studied the depletion at the South Pole but did not know until the British Antarctic Survey published its finding what the extent of the depletion actually constituted in terms of impact on environment and life on earth. The Professor is not a chemist and states that: "I entered into this field of chemistry because I was not a chemist and we only had to learn four reactions." The creation and destruction of ozone was more complex than even chemists had imagined. The stratosphere is the part of the atmosphere where ozone is located. This part of the stratosphere is approximately 8km above the earth's surface. Crutzen's theory based on the chain reactions of nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere and the reactions had due to "human actions" which increased "the amount of catalysts in the atmosphere.' The findings of Crutzen were that:

"Eventually it became clear that in the very cold stratospheric temperatures, found only above Antarctica, ice crystals were forming. Reactions on the surface of the crystals were freeing up chlorine while removing the nitrogen oxides."

Professor Crutzen believes that by decreasing the industrial nations in their use of CFCs as well as the 1996 decision in stopping the emissions will work due to the fact that the use of those remedies thus far yields evidence of it working due to the slow building up of chlorine in the atmosphere.

Crutzen states that:

"Because of these measures a major catastrophe has been averted. If all goes well we predict it will take about 40 years before the ozone hole is healed. We can see the results already."

Future Outlooks In Relation to Ozone:

According to an Associated Press news report September 2002 the hole in the ozone just over the area of the Antarctic is notably smaller this year has split in two according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Aeronautics and Space Agency. Due to the Montreal Protocol signed in 1987 in which 160 of the world's nations joined together in banning CFCs and in an initiative to try to off-set any further effects due to emissions of gases that deplete the Ozone there are many recent reports that the hole in the Ozone layer is becoming smaller.

The "impressive global response to ozone layer destruction," were sung praises of the Secretary-General but also cautioned that it is not a time for complacency. There were minimum effects of decreasing to the ozone levels in the Antarctic during the decade of the 1990's. During 2000 and 2003 the hole extended over 10.8 million square miles or an area larger than the North American Continent.

All damages to the Ozone layer are not of the manmade type. It is known that volcanoes emit sulfuric acid droplets during the course of an eruption. Although it is expected that the ozone will recover, if all nations abide by the CFC banning agreement and other mandates of the Montreal Protocol of 1988, it is understood among scientists that reality has it that the Ozone will not fully recover for at 50 and up to a possible 100 years.

Since the initial agreement of the Montreal Protocol, the Protocol has been the object of several amendments and also been improved through revision. Approximately 100 chemicals that damage the ozone have been banned or will or have been phased out of use. Donors to the Multilateral Fund have turned over $1.3 billion for development and implementation of the Protocol. Although the Ozone is not back to normal the layer has been "stabilized." Without the collaboration of the many peoples and countries on the earth the preservation of the global environment would not have been even a faint hope. However, the battle is not won and certainly won't be unless first the Ozone layer is returned to its' original condition and then a collective effort be made in preventing this type of occurrence again in the future.

According to an October 2004 Ozone report the hole in the layer over Antarctica has shrunk by approximately 20% compared to last year. According to the National Institute of water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) the measure of the hole, peaking at 9 million square miles against the comparison of 11 square miles two years ago. State in this report was the fact that the Ozone layer sits approximately 9-19 miles above the earth. Since the 1987 Montreal Protocol over 100 difference substances that cause damage to the Ozone has been phased out and banned in over 180 states.